My younger brother pointed out that I've never made anything for him, so for Christmas, I decided to knit him a Cleveland Browns stocking hat. This is how it turned out.

I had made hats before, but never with vertical stripes, so I had to make that part up on my own (and it took a few attempts to get it right). To knit each color/stripe I worked a different yarn end (2 white, 4 brown, and 2 orange) and then joined them at the top. It was a lot of yarn balls to work with, but it's manageable.

I just made this hat up as I went along, but here's pretty much what I did (A printer-friendly version of this pattern is also available [pdf, 80kb], and so are more photos):

MaterialsNeedles: 5 double-pointed #7 needles

Yarn: To find the right color orange, I used Caron Perfect Match 100% acrylic medium (4) yarn. Their 355-yard skein was plenty, and I got one in orange, one brown and one white. Before starting, I rolled the orange skein into two orange yarn balls, and did the same with the white. For the brown, I rolled four yarn balls. I kept them all in a bag, and the hat works easiest if you keep them from getting too tangled. Also, I brought up all yarn ends through the hat, so that as I worked, all the working yarn strands were inside the hat (instead of being between you and the work).

Pattern:Brim:
I did the brim in a solid color to give myself a foundation to work from. I think it would be neater to have the colored stripes as part of the brim, too, but that felt a bit beyond me (nor did I attempt to knit a facemask).

Knit 1, purl 1 in the round for about 1-1/2" to 2", depending on desired height

Knit three rounds in orange (this is so when the brim flips up, the joined-in colors of the stripes won't show)

Hat Body:
Now it's time to start the colored stripes. From now on, the hat is no longer knitted in the round. Instead, one row is knitted all the way around, then the next row is purled back.

Knitted Row (odd rows):

Start with needle 1 (which should have 20 sts on it). Knit 3 orange sts, then switch to brown. To do this, drop the orange yarn and pick up the first brown yarn end through the inside of the hat. To twist the brown to the orange, carry the brown around the right side and then over the top of the orange yarn before starting to knit. Knit 4 brown sts.

Switch to white (drop the brown yarn and pick up the first white yarn end [again, through the inside of the hat] and twist the white to the brown [carry the white around the right side and then over the top of the brown yarn before starting to knit]). Knit 6 white sts.

Switch to the second brown yarn. For every switch, be sure to twist the yarns (and for the first row, make sure you bring the new yarn though the inside of the hat). Knit 4 brown sts.

Switch to orange and knit 31 sts (3 to the end of needle 1, 25 on needle 2, and 3 on needle 3)

Switch to brown, k4

Switch to white, k6

Switch to brown, k4

Switch to orange, k 31 sts (3 to the end of needle 3, 25 on needle 4, and 3 on needle 1)

At this point, there should be sts on all five needles (3 orange on needle 5). Now it's time to purl back.

Purled Row (even rows):

The first row was knitted, or worked on the "right side" (in this case, the outside of the hat). The next row will be purled, or worked on the "wrong side" (the inside of the hat). Hold the work so needle 5 is in your left hand, and purl the 3 orange sts from needle 5 onto needle 1. Then purl normally the 25 orange sts on needle 4, then the 3 orange sts on needle 3

Switch to brown, p4 (again, be sure to twist the brown yarn with the orange)

Switch to white, p6

Switch to brown, p4

Switch to orange, p31 sts (3 to the end of needle 3, 25 on needle 4, and 3 on needle 1)

Switch to brown, p4

Switch to white, p6

Switch to brown, p4

Flip the work over and continue with the Knitted Row directions above

Continue knitting and purling consecutive rows until the hat body is about 7" tall, or to desired height

End having just worked a purl row

Decreasing the Hat Crown:
Normally, the hat pattern I use calls for decreasing 1 st PER multiple of 10 sts PER row. So, for a hat with 90 sts casted on, there are 9 multiples of 10 on each row, so we'd evenly decrease 9 sts per row (to decrease, just knit [or purl] 2 sts together). But in this case, since the stripes cannot be part of the decreasing (they have to stay the same width), all of the decreasing will be done on the orange sts.

To start with, I did all of the decreasing on needles 2 and 4, leaving the 3 orange sts on the ends of needles 1 and 3 alone until needles 2 and 4 were down to 3 sts each.

Another note on decreasing: I chose to randomly space my decreases on needles 2 and 4, instead of spacing them evenly. I tried doing it evenly on my test hat, but it was a pain. So for this part of the pattern, I'm not giving explicit instructions. I'll tell you the number of sts to decrease in each row, and you space them out along that row however you like (just don't put them all together).

At this point, there should only be 3 sts on needles 2 and 4. Continue decreasing each row by 2 orange sts, but now include the 3 sts on the ends of needles 1 and 3. After 8 more rows, there should be only 1 orange sts on each side

Finishing
Now all that's left is to close off the top and weave in the loose ends.

Break off all yarns, leaving about a 6" tail. Pull them all out to the outside of the hat, through the top

Slip one orange st to needle 1 and one to needle 3, and hold the needles parallel

Pull the orange yarn through the orange loop, and slide the orange st off the needle. Leave orange end loose for now

Using the Kitchener Stitch (below), bind together an off the 8 brown sts. Before starting, be sure to twist the brown yarn around the orange yarn

Switch to white (twist white and brown) and continue with Kitchener Stitch

Switch to brown (twist brown and white) and continue with Kitchener Stitch

Twist orange and brown and pull orange yarn through orange loop and off needle

Pull all loose ends (top and bottom of hat) to the inside of hat to tie off and weave in

This seems a lot more complicated written out than when I was knitting. If you have any trouble, or see any errors in my pattern, please let me know. Good luck. A printer-friendly version of this pattern is also available [pdf, 80kb].

Kitchener Stitch:
Tread yarn through tapestry needle. Hold needles parallel. Pull tapestry needle through first st on FRONT needle as if to purl & leave on needle, pull yarn through first st on BACK needle as if to knit & leave on needle. *pull tapestry needle through first st on FRONT needle as if to knit & slip st off needle, pull yarn through second st on FRONT needle as if to purl & leave on needle. Pull yarn through first st on BACK needle as if to purl & slip off needle, pull yarn through second st on BACK needle as if to knit & leave on needle*. Repeat from * to * until all sts have been used. Illustrated instructions available at http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html and http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=50.